Crafty Question: Painting Wooden Drawer Pulls

Not sure this topic belongs here, but it seemed the best fit. 

We purchased some cheap untreated wood drawers from IKEA along with some of the blue IKEA stain and I have finally finished painting the whole thing, except for the pulls.

In an ideal world, I would be able to buy all kinds of gorgeous antique drawer pulls but that's just not an option at the moment, as evidenced by the purchase of the £10 set of drawers in the first place.    So I thought I might try to make the dinky wooden ones that came with look a bit nicer, rather than just painting them blue as well.

The question is this.  What would be the best sort of paint to use?  I was hoping just some basic acrylic craft paints would be alright, but since these drawers will get a lot of use, I'm wondering how they might hold up.  Is there a better alternative? Should I consider shellac-ing them as well?

I've only ever made useless pretty things so this is new territory for me.  Thanks for any advice!

I think acrylics are fine, but yes, you will need to seal them real well. Not sure what the best sealant is... some of them come in spray cans, others in pots and you need a brush. The label should tell you.

Thanks!  I just found out that there's a HobbyCraft not far from me, so might go there and see what they have in the way of sealants.